Brightly Beams

Tis the time of year that everyone is making those New Year's Resolutions to change. Many people seeing how much they over ate these past few weeks, wanting to lose some weight. Others wanting to make their lives better. Others seeking for the Mr./Mrs. Right. And some just like the way they are. Looking at how the world is going, we all need change, a better life not just for ourselves, but everyone! Everyone is in need of joy, laughter and thanksgiving. But where do we find this, is it something we buy at the store, is it something we earn by running on the treadmill? No, but we can learn about it, and seek what our forefathers wanted for everyone, "the pursuit of happiness." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has taught us how we can be a family, and it is in the family where we find true joy and happiness. "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" teaches us our role in the family, and how being a family brings us this joy. Many political lea

This story comes from a really great friend of mine, I had no idea what he was going through until he told me this. "My family grew up in the church. I loved going to church and hearing the many different Bible stories and Book of Mormon stories. But after so many years it seemed like I had heard all these stories before, so what is the point of me going to church if I have already learned it all? So I would pretend to be sick, and stay home. I didn't want to displease my parents. So I would pretend to  be sick every once and awhile. "A few years before this started happening I was going through my spam email, and came upon this email with some pornographic material in it. I hurried and closed out of it. But this started a curiosity in me, I knew that it was bad, but my brain wanted to see more. So I started looking at it, more and more, thinking that I could stop anytime that I wanted to. But I was so wrong. The urges grew stronger and stronger, and wanting to lo

The other day I got the idea to start collecting people's conversion stories, and share them with others. Some of us feel that we don't have one because we were born into the church, but we all have to come to the knowledge to either follow in the footsteps of others, or find it out for ourselves. This first story is from a great friend of mine, who has always brought light into my life! "It starts back in Jr. Year of high school. I have done stuff that I am not proud of and I regret them everyday. I had to confess some stuff to the bishop. It was very severe stuff. I was so scared to tell him. I felt like God hated me and was so disappointed in me. But the worst part was that I felt God didn’t love me anymore and that He wouldn’t love me again. But I just felt like I needed to go talk to the bishop anyways. So in March I went and told my bishop everything the love in his eyes was so strong!! Even though I had made some stupid mistakes, he still loved me!! "

I recently finished this book, "Train To Potevka." The reason I decided to watch it was because the author had come to my high school a few years ago, did a wonderful presentation, and was selling the book for only $5. So I bought one, got it autographed, and went home and put it on my bookshelf, with all the other books I have. These last few weeks I have been trying to organize my room, and once again came across this book. So I decided I should read it. And boy am I glad that I did! This is one of those books that you can't put down. I had to keep reading it. There is a lot of action, a love story, and it talks about missionary work too! It is about this American Spy in Russia. He assignment was to bring an evil man to justice. But unfortunately his cover is blown, and the Russian Mafia is after him. So he is on the run, going all across Russia, seeking safety. I give this book 5 stars. And I recommend it to all!

Since recently returning from my mission, I have seen the big difference of technology, and how it has grown. Many people focus on the evils that come from this. Pornography just a click away, cyber bullying, and many other things. But with this technology before us we have a great opportunity and duty to use it for good. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been encouraging us as members to do all we can to share the gospel, and the joy it brings into our lives. With this technology it makes it so easy to share our testimonies of the many tender mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through many resources, like facebook, instagram, twitter, and much more, instead of danger a click away, we have the opportunity to share our knowledge and love of the Savior with just the click of a button. This is amazing, this is the day that Isaiah, Peter, Paul, John, Moses, Adam and many of the ancient prophets, they saw the amazing world we live in, and have asked us to "not be a

As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to focus on having a thankful heart. A lot of the time we just remember to be thankful this time of the year. Why aren't we thankful for all other times of the year? Why aren't we thankful for the glistening snow on January? Why are we thankful for the love which fills our lives and heart in February? Why aren't we thankful for our lucky charms in March? Why aren't we thankful for the Resurrection of our Lord and Master in April? Why aren't we thankful for the beautiful flowers which bloom before our eyes in May? Why aren't we thankful for school getting out in June? Why aren't we thankful for our freedom in July? Why aren't we thankful for watermelon and BBQs in August? Why aren't we thankful to start school in September? Why aren't we thankful for cold weather perfect to cuddle with someone in October? And why aren't we thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ, our only reason to have hope, in December?

So on my mission, one thing we would challenge members to do is to pass out mormon.org cards. We would normally give them a hand full of them, and tell them good luck, we would then go back after a week we would go back and see if they were able to pass them out. Most of the time they hadn't even handed out one, and we didn't understand why that was. Until finally a lady asked us how she was suppose to hand them out, she didn't know how. So we decided to do some role plays, us missionaries would do so many role plays. It gave her the confidence to start handing them out. The next day she went to the mall with her daughters, and she started handing them out, and she was shocked at how easy it was to hand them out, and also who was really interested in receiving them. There were people who looked like they would be interested, but just took the card and shoved it in their pocket and threw it away at the nearest trash can. Then there was this guy who was covered in tattoos

So far this book is amazing, after just reading the first 2 chapters I am wishing I would have known this stuff before my mission. The first chapter is about not judging people. And when I say judging people, I mean not trying to predict who is ready to receive the gospel. We might think that Jane, that lady who has the best family values, and already follows the Word of Wisdom, is the most ready to receive the gospel. Just as we shouldn't think that Jim, the guy who is always yelling at his wife, and smokes up a storm, is no where ready to listen to missionaries. The truth is, we don't know, the only one who does is God. Clayton talks about how we need to share the gospel to everyone, we will never figure out who is ready without asking them. Some of us don't know how to even bring up the gospel in our conversations with others. Or your like me and am scared to death to even talk to people about religion. In chapter 2 this is exactly what Clayton talks about. He tells

The Book of Mormon, it is my favorite book to read. I get so much out of it, especially a hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Today I read the Title Page and the Introduction. Both Help us to understand the role of the Book of Mormon, in our lives. There were a couple of things that really stood out to me. First on the Title Page it says the following: "Also[The Book of Mormon] to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations-And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgement-seat of Christ." I love that statement, because Jesus is the Savior of everyone, not just me or you, but all. And there may be mistakes in the Book of Mormon, in the Bible, and even college textbooks, but we aren't to let the mistakes of men get in the way of truth. In the Introduction it talks about the brief story line

So my dad told me to read the book, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries." I finally sat down last night and started to read it. So far it is pretty good. I have just read the introduction, and so far I can tell it is going to be a great book. While on my mission the most frustration that I got was from members, because they either refused to do missionary work, and just didn't understand it. This book talks about how to do member missionary work, the fears of it, the promised blessings of the Lord when we do it, so far I recommend it to everyone! A line from it that I loved is this, "We share the gospel because we know it will help others become better, happier people." In the introduction, he lists off a lot of scriptures from the Doctrine & Covenants, they are all powerful, and all deal with blessings from missionary work, and how the Lord will help us through it!